Proximal cooperative aerial manipulation with vertically stacked drones

Abstract

Enabling vertical-stack proximal cooperation between multirotor flying robots can facilitate the execution of complex aerial manipulation tasks. However, vertical-stack proximal flight is commonly regarded as a dangerous condition that should be avoided because of persistent and intense downwash interference generated between flying robots. Here we propose a cooperative aerial manipulation system, called FlyingToolbox, that can work stably with sub-centimetre-level docking accuracy under vertical-stack flight conditions. The system consists of a toolbox micro-aerial vehicle (MAV) and a manipulator MAV. The robotic arm of the manipulator MAV can autonomously dock with a tool carried by the toolbox MAV, in which the docking accuracy reaches 0.80?±?0.33?cm in the presence of downwash airflow of up to 13.18?m?s?1. By enabling midair tool exchange in proximity, FlyingToolbox resolves the paradox between flight proximity and manipulation accuracy, suggesting a new model for heterogeneous and interactive flying robot cooperation in diverse applications.

For More information, please visit:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-025-01729-5

Published: 24 September 2025

DOI:10.1038/s41586-025-09575-x

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